Published November 9, 2016 at 8:49 PM Updated December 20, 2016 at 12:28 PM

Iraqi Federal Police prepare to join the fight to re-capture Mosul from ISIL. Early expectations of a swift victory have proved overly optimistic.

CCTV’s Jack Barton reports the story.

Iraqi forces re-calibrate plans to retake Mosul from ISIL

Iraqi Federal Police prepare to join the fight to re-capture Mosul from ISIL. Early expectations of a swift victory have proved overly optimistic. CCTV’s Jack Barton reports the story.

“The civilians and other factors are behind our slow advance towards our targets. We intend to advance slowly in order not to jeopardize lives of families and civilians in neighborhoods,” Lieutenant-General Abdul-Ghani Al-Asaadi, the Commander of Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service said.

The U.N. said ISIL has brought another 1500 people from a nearby town into Mosul to act as human shields and also abducted nearly 300 former members of the Iraqi security services.

Despite the concern for civilians heavy artillery is now being trained on the city, which is also under aerial bombardment.

The city is also where ISIL is trapped, having just lost Bashiqa, one of the groups’ last outposts near Mosul.

“Now the town of Bashiqa has completely been cleansed from ISIL. We ask the residents of Bashiqa not to rush back as there might be still homes that have explosives, or roads that have explosives,” said Head of the Peshmerga Forces, Lieutenant General Jamal Mohammed Omar.

Explosives weren’t enough to stop members of the town’s Christian community from returning to pray at their local church, where the bells rang for the first time in more than two years.

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